Jakarta Flood Hazard Mapping Framework

Every year floods occur in Jakarta. Widespread flooding occurred in 1996, 2002 and 2007, inundating up to 40% of the city. Increasing population pressure and subsidence (10 cm/year or more) of areas already under MSL lead to an autonomous increase of flood risk. This paper describes the work and conclusions from the Jakarta Flood Management Project. The project developed a Framework to find the decisive causes of, and proper measures against flooding. Main conclusions are: (1) successive rainstorm in January and February cause floods in the Jakarta area, (2) high sea tides in combination with subsidence cause floods in the Northern part of the city and (3) insufficient maintenance of infrastructure aggravates the floods. An alarming conclusion of the project is that with the juxtaposition of the high sea tides and the subsidence rate, Jakarta heads towards disaster. Up to 4 million people and approximately 25% of the city will be affected by inundation from the sea within the next 15 years if no measures are taken.